As Vancouver event planners, we had the excellent opportunity to collaborate with the Vancouver Urban Farming Society for their latest urban farmers event.

The first Urban Farming Forum, which took place in 2011, invited food security advocates, policy makers, and urban farmers alike to engage in vibrant discourse around urban farming as well as discuss ways in which Vancouver’s Greenest City goals could be met in the context of urban farming policy. The 2012 installment at sustainability and creativity co-working space, the HiVE Vancouver, was centered around the urban farmers specifically to allow for a more concerted effort at data collection and discussion most relevant to the farmers themselves.

All & Sundry created the large black-and-white photographic art pieces, signage, activity booklet cover pages, and table centrepieces for the 2012 Forum. With the theme of local food and sustainability at the forefront of such an event, the art pieces and accompanying signage were made-to-assemble so that they could be easily stored and reused for future events. An assortment of locally-grown herbs (rosemary, lavender, sage, Italian parsley) and two types of kale and chard were used for the table centrepieces to provide that extra sensory experience—the visual piece of seeing what can be grown most anywhere in the city as well as the lovely scent of fresh herbs—and as gifts for the event volunteers.

Food was curated and prepared by wild foraging guide and underground chef, Alexander McNaughton, with samplings of local fare from Urban Digs Farm, Harvest Community Foods, and Earnest Ice Cream. A number of Patch Planters also made an appearance at the forum to emphasize the growing potential of their self-watering container system.

“Amy is a wonderfully talented, resourceful and creative person to work with. We had a small budget, a short timeline, and some wishful thinking and she took these constraints and with DIY-prowess helped us transform what would have been a lackluster activity into a fun and engaging process for the community. I look forward to many more collaborative projects with Amy and All & Sundry Collective in the future.” — Shelby Tay, Vancouver Urban Farming Society